Harder than normal run Tuesday run

For the first time, in a very long time, I joined up with some fellow runners for a small group run.  I suppose that the timing isn't optimal due to social distancing recommendations but I tried to keep my 6 feet of distance and hope the risk is minimal. With my long run on Sundays and my bike ride on Mondays I normally take it pretty easy on Tuesdays so I entered into the run with some doubts but I wound up holding up pretty well.

I ran with 2 other guys, with one guy doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of pace.  We took off at 7:39 for the first mile then hit 7:24, 7:27, 7:30.  From there we picked it up, 7:12, 7:02. 7:22, and 7:08.  My legs felt pretty dead at around mile 4 but aerobically I felt okay and actually felt better once we picked up the pace.  Also, I found it harder in some ways running behind the group.  At mile 5 I pulled up abreast to the front and it actually felt easier.  I think I'm just so used to running by myself that it's difficult to adjust to following someone else's pace.

Final stats:
8.30 miles
1:01:01
7:21 pace

Definitely some benefits to running with others, as I don't think I would have ran as fast by myself.  Also, some drawbacks;  running too hard on a normally easy day and waking up 2 hours earlier than normal.

I'll have to see how I recover before I determine how often I'm going to do this.